Report: Afghanistan needs help fighting corruption

The United States must do more to help Afghanistan battle the corruption undermining critical programs to rebuild the war-torn country, a top government watchdog said Thursday.

Arnold Fields, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, said Afghan officials have made repeated pleas for assistance in ensuring the billions of dollars in international aid they're receiving are spent properly. Yet graft and fraud remain significant problems even as more U.S. tax dollars flow into the country.

"There is much to be done in this area," Fields, a retired Marine Corps general, told reporters at a Pentagon briefing.

Since 2002, the United States has committed nearly $33 billion for reconstruction projects in Afghanistan. Nearly half that money has gone for rebuilding the country's army and police forces.

Fields' office – known as SIGAR (see-gar) – was created by Congress in 2008, nearly seven years after U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan. Fields was sworn in last July and is the first person to hold the post.

In November 2008, the head of Afghanistan's interior ministry told Fields' office that he wanted 35 international auditors to work with Afghan accountability officials to support anti-corruption efforts.

According to the quarterly report, this request was made "in the presence of U.S. Embassy representatives." Yet the State Department didn't follow up on the request until early April.

President Hamid Karzai asked Fields for support in fighting corruption in the country's public institutions during his most recent visit to Afghanistan in March, the report says.

Karzai wanted Fields' office to participate in the country's Anti-Corruption Council. But due to its status as an independent oversight body, the office had to decline.

In the report, Fields cites an April 7 letter he sent to top U.S. officials, including Gen. David Petraeus, seeking information on what concrete steps the U.S. and other countries are taking to improve anti-corruption efforts in Afghanistan.

Fields also said his office will begin an audit to assess Afghanistan's ability to fight corruption.

Although his report does not discuss the reasons for corruption within Afghanistan, other U.S. oversight agencies, including the Government Accountability Office, have said the causes include weak procurement regulations, lax enforcement, low wages for public officials and a thriving drug trade that frustrates political stability.

Transparency International, a non-government organization, last year ranked Afghanistan 176 out of 180 countries on its corruption perceptions index, a poll that assesses the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Only Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia were rated lower.

Fields said his office next month will release its first audit report. It examines the oversight of a $404 million contract to provide training to the Afghanistan army and police.

The office's third quarterly report was sent to Congress on Wednesday.